Welcome to Washed-Away

February 05, 2013 at 10:08 am

“Welcome to Washed-Away,” Tom Burke says, sitting shotgun as his cousin Jessica Taylor drives her Jeep over the Marine Parkway Bridge from Brooklyn to the Rockaways.

Jessica, twenty-one, turns toward Jacob Riis Park, where the parking lot is now a massive garbage dump. Scores of seagulls circle overhead. Her father, Billy Taylor, watches from the back seat as they pass the dump, currently growing by hundreds of feet every day as the Department of Sanitation gradually removes the trash heaps that still remain in front of most houses.

There are flashing lights from emergency vehicles in every direction. The Jeep zigzags through sand-covered side streets, passing military Humvees and National Guard trucks, slowing down at intersections because traffic lights don’t work. Jessica drops the men at Billy’s apartment on Beach 124th Street, says goodbye, and drives toward a service station in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to spend a few hours waiting in line for gas.

Tom Burke, photograph by Mo Scarpelli

Read the full story and continue following the 100 Days Later series on the Narratively site.

Funders

MetroFocus is made possible by James and Merryl Tisch, the Anderson Family Fund, Judy and Josh Weston, Bernard and Irene Schwartz, the Sylvia A. and Simon B. Poyta Programming Endowment to Fight Anti-Semitism, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The Dorothy Schiff Endowment for News and Public Affairs Programming, Jody and John Arnhold, Rosalind P. Walter, the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, Laura and Jim Ross, and Shailaja and Umesh Nagarkatte.